I’m an American citizen, but a New Zealand resident, which means that I need to maintain a current US passport and NZ resident visa. Very exciting!

The visa is a sticker in my passport, and my passport was going to expire in 2014 – shortly after my scheduled return from Antarctica. So, before leaving on the road trip, I had sent out my old passport for renewal.

On our return to Christchurch this Sunday, I had a new passport waiting, ready for a new visa sticker. The old visa was going to expire in October 2013 anyways, so it needed extending too. There were a lot of people in line at immigration Monday afternoon, so I didn’t accomplish much there other than getting a hard copy of the relevant form and instructions to come back Tuesday.

After immigration was a trip to a nearby junk yard to find a replacement door lock for the car. Fortunately, they had one on hand, and only wanted $10 for it. The evening was then spent taking the car door apart to remove the old lock, re-keying the new lock to match the rest of the car’s locks, and putting everything back together. Fun fun!

Tuesday was a return to NZ Immigration for a new visa sticker. A couple hours and couple hundred dollars later, and I’m set to go!